The present invention relates to an apparatus for extracting and inserting a bundle assembly or the like from a heat exchanger shell.
It is known that in the industrial heat producing plants, heat exchanger shells comprising bulky and heavy bundles are provided. Such shells, due to their function, are subjected to periodical maintenance stops for attaining the faultless operation thereof. To date, various types of apparatus operating on sizeable constructions such as the industrial plant heat exchangers are known for this purpose. Such an apparatus should be capable of performing said maintenance stops, i.e., the extraction of the bundle from its shell, the transport of the former to the maintenance station and the reinsertion thereof inside the shell once the maintenance step is over, with no risk of injuring the inherently fragile bundle.
To this end, for said steps to be concomitantly and safely carried out a proper alignment between the apparatus enabling the extraction and the insertion of the bundle is required.
However, due to the weight of the apparatus and of the bundle itself, the apparatus must anyhow be blocked onto the ground, and this makes the alignment particularly cumbersome, often causing a repeated ground positioning and disengaging of the apparatus, each time involving the vehicle carrying the apparatus to realise even minor adjustments.
European Patent Application EP-A-0589792 discloses a device for the maintenance of a heat exchanger bundle assembly. The main disadvantage of such device is that it does not allow a fine positioning of its base in the field of operation. As a consequence, it is very difficult to perfectly align the apparatus with the bundle, in order to correctly extract the same from the heat exchanger.
The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is that of providing an apparatus allowing to overcome the drawbacks hereto mentioned with reference to the known art.
Such problem is overcome by a heat exchanger bundle extractor apparatus, comprises:
a supporting base, onto which a hoisting column is rotatably mounted, said supporting base comprising means for rotating said hoisting column on its own vertical axis;
a guide frame, mounted onto supports on the hoisting column, and controlled hoisting and lowering means for the moving of said supports and said guide frame along said hoisting column;
a push/pull device suitable for coupling to a respective front flange of a bundle, mounted on said guide frame;
longitudinal translation means apt to longitudinally moving said guide frame with respect to said supports, said guide frame being provided with bearing supports for said bundle; and
transversal translation means mounted at said supports and apt to transversally move said guide frame with respect to said supports and to the hoisting column,
wherein said supporting base comprises a multiplicity of hydraulic jacks mounted onto telescopic supports horizontally movable with respect to the plane of said base, characterised in that it at least a part of said multiplicity of hydraulic jacks comprises powered wheels for the moving of said base.
The main advantage of the apparatus according to the present invention, lies in allowing easier aligning steps between the devices thereof and the bundle, thereby avoiding time-consuming and cumbersome manoeuvres and implementing the utmost effectiveness thereof.